Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Words Matter (Part II)

There is a wonderful book called The Future of White Men and Other Diversity Dilemmas by Joan Steinau Lester, in which she does a great job of explaining why words matter.  It's an easy read and highly entertaining, and if you can find a copy, I definitely recommend it.  In it, she explains that a word is not just a word, no matter how much some people insist it is.  Words have histories.  Words have complex and varied meanings.  They affect the way we think about things.

And if words didn't matter, some people wouldn't get so upset when other people suggest changing them.  Consider the people that insist the word "mankind" really means everyone.  They don't want to change a title from Chairman to Chairperson, for instance, insisting it isn't necessary because the "man" in Chairman really refers to women, too.  Suggest to one of these people that since a word is just a word, the title instead be changed to Chairwoman, which would include men, too.  The amount of resistance you'd get to such a suggestion is a clue that the word really does matter.

Do you know where the word "handicap" comes from?  In England in the 1700's, people with disabilities were not allowed into the poorhouses.  They were not considered good enough for that.  Instead, they were given caps with which they were supposed to beg.

Many people today prefer to be referred to as "a person with a disability" rather than as "a person with a handicap."  I see their point.  I have a disability, a condition that affects my abilities, but I don't beg on the street corner with a cap.  I also object to the idea that a person with a disability is not even good enough to be admitted into a poorhouse.

When someone refers to me as handicapped, do they mean to say I am not even good enough for a poorhouse?  Probably not.  I bet most people that use the word "handicapped" don't even know the origin of the word.  But now you do.  And you know that some people find it offensive or objectionable.  If it's just a word, and if you don't mean to use it to demean someone, why not just say "disability" instead?


2 comments:

  1. I agree with you on this but I also think that some persons with disabilites don't even like being labeled as having lesser abilities than others and prefer to be referred to as "differently abled" or something similar to that. What do you think of that? Also it seems that a person with special needs might be an accurate non offensive descriptor for some. But I don't know if being called special or different could be offensive.

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    1. In general, the most accepted term at this time seems to be "person with a disability." I think if you're not sure how someone would like their disability to be referred to, it's usually OK to ask. I don't mean you should go up to a total stranger at the grocery store and say, "Hey, when I want to talk about you, should I refer to you as handicapped or crippled or what?" But if it's someone you know, it's OK to ask what terms they prefer.

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